Can't Sleep
by cottoncandyylover
Summary: "Lucy?" – Natsu was as confused as ever – "I didn't burn or destroy anything, everything is fine and in its place, so what are we doing here?"; In the end, Natsu was the problem, but also the solution for Lucy's problem.


Hello! I had this urge to write a Nalu fanfic and this is the result. I hope you like it. I'm still pretty newbie in here, but I really hope it's enjoyable and sweet. I'm sorry for grammar mistakes - english isn't my native language and even the writing style might have a few mistakes. I do apologize for that.

_italic - thinking_

Enjoy!

_I do not own Fairy Tail_

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**Can't sleep?**

"_Why can't I sleep?"_ -, Lucy asked herself while making her way to the Guild. Someone who looked directly at Lucy would slowly point out the pretty much noticeable tiredness in her face. It had been three days now that she hadn't been able to sleep. It's not that she wouldn't try, as a matter of fact, she would try to fall asleep, but her eyes wouldn't close even though she felt she was would turn in her bed, from right to left and left to right, until eventually she gave up. She had tried everything in order to rest throughout the nights: drink milk or tea (Levi had told her that it would help her relax – guess that didn't happen), read or continue writing her book, go out for a walk, anything – nothing had worked so far and Lucy was starting to get worried that she wasn't getting the necessary sleep for her to feel healthy and, well, herself.

Sighing, she opened the doors to the Guild and all she noticed was what normally any person or member would notice as one would step foot inside the building – some people would be drinking, others would be eating, others would be shouting and talking to each other (pretty loudly, one must say), arguing or fighting, picking up missions, deciding or starting to leave for one and, normally, Lucy would join in some of them and be her usual cheerful self, talking with her friends, sharing stories and cheering them on since she wasn't going on one that soon.

These last days, though, she would just walk right into the counter and slam her head on the table with her arms falling miserably at her side. She had thought for a while that maybe, just maybe she would be able to fall asleep there. Right there. Just because she was in the presence of what she considered being her family. Lucy then realized that such thing was impossible and she eventually became desperate for something to make her sleep at night.

Some members of the Guild had started to notice that Lucy wasn't being her usual self, she wasn't smiling or laughing and she looked incredibly tired and exhausted. Mirajane had been noticing that the most and wanted more than nothing to help Lucy finding out what was wrong with her. 

- "Lucy?" 

- "Hum…?" – Lucy looked up from the table in order to look at Mirajane. 

- "When exactly have you started to feel like this?" – Mirajane actually had a theory, but didn't know if it would be confirmed or not, so she just decided to speculate on it for a little while. 

Lucy, as sleepy as she was, started meditating about when all of this had started "I think… three days ago? Yes, that was it. I remember it because that was when Natsu and Happy left for their mission and didn't take me with them… idiots. I thought we were partners!" concluded Lucy yawning and letting her head fall again on the counter "Ah… but I'm too tired to be complaining about them now."

So, you started feeling like that on the same day they left?, Mirajane was getting somewhere and started smiling a bit, "Have you ever thought that maybe it's because of them that you can't sleep?"

Lucy's entire body froze. It couldn't be. She slowly looked up at the Mirajane again with wide eyes and stared at her. No, she was wrong. It definitely had nothing to do with that. It definitely had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Natsu had been sleeping more often than usual with her in her bed right beside her and then suddenly, since he and Happy had gone on a mission, her body started to miss that warm feeling his body radiated to her every time he laid down with her by her side. Could it it be? Lucy started laughing to herself – _"No way. That's not possible… or is it?"_ Lucy thought to herself. But now, since Mira had mentioned it, she couldn't just stop herself from thinking about that hypothesis.

She missed Natsu, true – she also missed Happy. She wanted them to come back, because she would get worried if they would, for example, stay longer than typical time on a mission, afraid that something bad may have happened. She missed Natsu more than she had ever missed someone, also true. She liked the feeling he would give her, his smile, his idiotic side and laugh and even if she complained about him coming to her own house at unappreciated and unusual times (with a few _little _punches along the way), deep down, if he didn't do any of those things, she would find it strange and maybe, she realized, she would become kind of sad. She had grown fond of the fire dragon mage and unconsciously her body, mind and heart had become, maybe, a little too fond of him – "Oh my god… this can't be happening.", she needed him to sleep and she was feeling really tired, she wanted to sleep and she needed her fire mage friend to sleep. She brought her hands to her head and shouted "How could this happen?!"

Maybe Mirajane – who was now sure Lucy had come to terms with her thoughts while smiling at her – was right. She had become so accustomed to having him come in the middle of the night to her side, that once he departed to the mission, she became restless. What now? Spinning around in her seat she looked from side to side and then to the entire Guild, Natsu and Happy were nowhere to be seen yet. "Weren't they supposed to come back today? Why are they taking so long?" Lucy mentioned to no one in particular – _"I really want to get this over and done with and figure out what's really wrong with me and I really want to get myself some peaceful sleep!"_.

Suddenly, from outside the Guild, Lucy could make out two distinctive voices that were gradually making their way into the Guild: one definitely belonging to a cat, a blue cat more precisely, who was complaining about not having any fish to eat for three days now. The other one was from the fire mage – "Natsu!" Lucy shouted as she left her sit and made her way to the Guild's door.

Natsu and Happy were really excited to see their friend's again and, especially their partner, Lucy. Natsu missed her a lot and really wanted to tell her about his and Happy's mission. They had fought this really funny yet kind of strong enemy and they were eager to share their story with her.

They were progressively entering the Guild, opening the doors and – "HEY, GUYS! WE'RE BAC—!", Natsu didn't have time to speak another word, because he immediately felt somebody's hands on one of his own and was now being dragged by no other than Lucy outside the building again at a rather rapid pace. Everyone at the Guild stared dumbfounded at the couple, but since they'd figured this had something to do with them both, they decided to not interfere. Mirajane was smiling thinking that Lucy would finally get her sleep again and a small part of them were thinking that if Lucy was mad… well, the best would be to wish good luck to Natsu! Happy, for once, had already seen Charles and went straight at her, forgetting that his best friend Natsu was no longer with him.

Meanwhile, - "Hey, Lucy! Where are we going?" was what Natsu had been asking since they left the Guild. Lucy was still pulling him by his hand and moving at a way faster pace than him, which made the fire mage wonder what was happening. She turned her head to him and simply told him that they were going to her house, immediately. From those single moments that he had been able to see her face, Natsu noticed how exhausted she looked "_Had something happened while he was away?_"; "_Had she not been sleeping at all?_"; _"Maybe her bed disappeared?" _were some of the thoughts going through his mind at the moment along with the _"Have I done something wrong? I don't remember burning anything before going on the mission though"_.

Arriving at her door, she went look for her key with one of her hands while still holding his hand with her other one – _"Well… he isn't complaining, so I guess it's ok. I kind of like the feeling"_, when she caught herself – "_Oh my god, what I'm I saying, I must really need to sleep. That's it._" while blushing a little. She found her key and stepped inside, guiding herself and Natsu towards her bedroom. Lucy then turned herself to face the fire mage letting go of his hand.

- "Lucy?" – Natsu was as confused as ever – "I didn't burn or destroy anything, everything is fine and in its place, so what are we doing here?"

- "NATSU! I CAN'T SLEEP!" – Lucy didn't really know why she shouted since he was right in front of her, but maybe it was because she really didn't feel like talking that much and just wanted to get in bed even though it was only afternoon. So she looked up to him and looked right into his onyx eyes and decided to get right to the point – "Natsu, I haven't been able to sleep at all because you and Happy decided to go on that mission and somehow I became restless and I really need my sleep, but I can only sleep if you sleep with me and I know this is lame but—", Lucy stopped talking and adverted her eyes from his, _"Oh my god, this is really lame, pfft, what am I saying? How am I supposed to tell him that I need him to sleep with me or I won't be able to rest? Even if someone told me something like this I would think that person is insane and—"_

Her thoughts were shortly interrupted when she felt a hand enveloping her wrist and guiding her towards her bed. Stopping, Natsu let go of her hand placed himself comfortably on her bed with one of his hand supporting his head and then patted the space next to his with his other hand as if telling her to lay down by his side – "Come on, Luce. I don't want to be the reason you look like that. I'm here, so sleep. I'll stay with you."

She was about to ask him what did he mean by looking like "_that_", but she decided to let it go and just climbed up next to him, adjusting herself next to him. She pull the covers over both of them and adjusted her head on her pillow. She decided she wouldn't be able to fall asleep if she were face to face with him, so she was now facing the other way being her back turned to him. Then, she slowly closed her eyes. A few minutes passed. A few more minutes passed… again and again minutes would pass.

"_What the hell! Wasn't I supposed to fall asleep if he was by my side?"_ – opening her eyes again, she started getting agitated again. She didn't even know if Natsu was asleep or not or if he had already left, she really wasn't that close to him to figure that one out. She had decided previously that she should keep a little distance from him – she didn't really know why she decided that, maybe because she hadn't figured out her feelings about him yet or just because, well, they were friends, a boy and a girl, who were sharing a bed. Even though it was kind of "_normal_" for them or at least for Natsu, she felt it was necessary. Either way, she couldn't yet sleep – _"What now? Was I wrong?" _was the thought going through her head as she felt kind of sad that the solution wasn't Natsu being buy her side.

What she hadn't noticed was that Natsu was still beside her. He actually had fallen asleep, but he woke up when he began noticing Lucy had been moving way too much in her side. Her bed wasn't that big, how she managed or was trying to maintain a distance, he didn't understand, but he really wanted to help her or else she wouldn't be able to sleep and go on missions with him and Happy either. He didn't want that. He cared for her and wanted for her to be happy and the cheerful Lucy he had always known. Even though he wanted all that, he was still sleepy and didn't really want to think that much about what to do so, he just followed his instincts and did what he had always done when he would come in the middle of the night and get in bed with her. He embraced her and pulled her to him.

Lucy didn't have time to wonder about anything else. She suddenly felt being drawn and embraced by strong arms. She knew to whom these belonged to. Her heart began beating faster and she felt her face go red like a tomato. Her head was now resting by Natsu's chest, she could smell his scent and listen to his breath on her neck, one of his arms were around her waist and both their legs ended up entangling with each other. They fitted like two pieces of a puzzle – _"What is he doing?" _was all she could think at that moment. She turned her head as much as possible in order to look at him, but as soon as she was about to speak out, she noticed he appeared to be sleeping and her eyes soften as she slowly started relaxing in his arms. She closed her eyes and focused on Natsu's heartbeat that she could listen to clearly – it was such a beautiful and soothing sound. She felt his warmth radiating and washing over her. She identified one of the various feeling Natsu made her feel – with him, she felt protected, safe, like this in his arms.

Lucy felt herself become completely comfortable in Natsu's arms and her eyelids started to close gently as she was finally able to fall asleep profoundly, having the sleep she hadn't been able to get over the last three days – _"Thank you, Natsu… I'll make sure to ask you in the morning why you were blushing though"_ she whispered quietly to herself, taking a deep breath and entering her much earned sleep time next to the person she figured adored most in the world. Natsu, on the other hand, smiled as he saw that Lucy had finally fallen asleep comfortably with a peaceful smile plastered on her face. He lightly tighten the hold on her and also fell asleep shortly after her. In the end, Natsu was really the problem, but also the solution to Lucy's lack of sleep.

**The End**

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That's it. I hope Natsu and Lucy weren't that out of their characters. Since it's my first time writing Nalu, I don't really know if it may be a little out. Please, do review, so I know what I can do better or simply what you thought of it. I always appreciate reviews :) If not, well, just thank you very much for reading!


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